Many current navigation devices and systems provide suggested navigation routes using map-only data or historical traffic patterns. Some newer navigation devices and systems have embedded traffic updates designed to re-route drivers via fastest routes when there is traffic congestion or an incident along the original suggested route. Navigation service providers (NSPs) therefore request and receive current traffic information from traffic service providers (TSPs) to better understand current traffic situation and recommend an optimal navigation route. However, given the unpredictable nature of traffic itself, the conditions of the traffic network sometimes change so quickly that a re-routing option may not be available.
It is therefore of interest for personal navigation device (PND) providers to understand how best they are helping their end users (e.g., drivers) and understand if their suggested navigation routes are improving over time. It is also of interest to determine if a traffic forecast algorithm is improving. That is, it is of interest to determine whether an algorithm for a predicted or forecasted traffic pattern in the future is becoming more accurate (e.g., at 20 minutes in the future or 2 hours in the future).
Therefore, there is a continuing effort to provide improved systems, methods, and apparatuses to provide improved suggested navigation routs.